Former Grand Mufti of Lebanon Mohammed Rashid Qabbani Issues Fatwa: It Is an Islamic Duty to Wage Jihad to Liberate Palestine from the "Foreign Jewish Occupiers," All Peace Agreements with Them Null and Void Former Grand Mufti of Lebanon Mohammed Rashid Qabbani issued a fatwa according to which Palestinians and all Arabs and Muslims have a duty to wage Jihad "to liberate Palestine from the occupation of the Jews of the Balfour Declaration." Sheikh Qabbani compared the liberation of Palestine today to the Jihad waged by the Prophet Muhammad, by Omar ibn Al-Khattab, and by Saladin, and declared that Islam forbids the Palestinians and all Arab and Muslim countries "to surrender, to reconcile, to make peace treaties, or to concede a single inch of Arab Palestinian land to the foreign Jewish occupiers." Sheikh Qabbani's address aired on Al-Mayadeen TV on May 16.

Hamas Leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar: We Are Coordinating with Hizbullah, Iran on an Almost Daily BasisHamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar said, in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV channel, that with the help of Iran, Hamas has managed to significantly develop its capabilities. Sinwar added that Iran has provided Hamas’s Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and other Gaza factions "a lot of money, equipment, and expertise." He further said that his organization had "excellent" relations with Hizbullah and that there is coordination on an "almost daily" basis between the two organizations, and described Hamas’s relations with Iran, the IRGC, and Qasem Solimani as "strong and warm." The interview aired on May 21.

Saudi-Moroccan soccer spat symbolizes the new Arab politics

Saudi support for the U.S.-led bid was about more than preserving the kingdom’s alliance with the United States. It appears to be part of an attempt to strong-arm countries into supporting the boycott of Qatar, which has failed to garner international support, and punish those who opposed it.

In the latest round of the Saudi-Moroccan soccer spat, Turki Al-Sheikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority and a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, broke with the decades-old, and often farcical, principle of Arab solidarity by suggesting that the kingdom would support a U.S.-led rather than a Moroccan bid for the 2026 World Cup.

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Adopting a Saudi Arabia First approach, Sheikh noted that the United States “is our biggest and strongest ally.” He recalled that when the World Cup was played in 1994 in nine American cities, it “was one of our favorites. The fans were numerous, and the Saudi team achieved good results.”

In an earlier tweet, Sheikh, noting that none of the contenders for the 2026 bid had sought Saudi support, said: “If someone ever asks, we will look for Saudi Arabia’s interests first.”

Applying the principle to soccer takes on added significance given that few other things parallel the depth of emotion that religion evokes in what is a soccer-crazy part of the world.

Underscoring the importance of soccer, Saudi businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, in one of his first public acts after being released from three months of detention in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel and in a demonstration of fealty to Prince Mohammad, donated $533,000 in February to Saudi soccer club Al Hilal FC.

Prince Alwaleed, who was among the more recalcitrant of the hundreds of members of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, senior officials, and prominent businessmen detained last November in what amounted to a power and asset grab in the guise of an anti-corruption campaign, said the donation was in response to a call by the government.

Sheikh’s apparent support for a joint U.S.-Canadian-Mexican bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup followed a veiled threat by U.S. President Donald J. Trump against nations that may oppose the U.S.-led proposition. That threat is in violation of guidelines set down by world soccer body FIFA regarding political influence on the sport.

Morocco is the U.S.-led bid’s only competitor. FIFA is scheduled to choose the 2026 host on June 13.

“The U.S. has put together a STRONG bid w/ Canada & Mexico for the 2026 World Cup. It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?” Trump said on Twitter.

“We will be watching very closely, and any help they can give us in that bid we would appreciate,” Trump added, implicitly linking support for the US-led bid to trade issues.

In his own tweets, Sheikh made clear that Saudi support for the U.S.-led bid was about more than preserving the kingdom’s alliance with the United States. It appears to be part of an attempt to strong-arm countries into supporting the boycott of Qatar, which has failed to garner international support, and punish those who opposed it.

“Some people went astray. If you want support, you should seek it in Riyadh. What you are doing is wasting your time. Now ask the pseudo-state to help you. A message from the Gulf to the Ocean,” Sheikh tweeted several weeks ago, referring to Qatar in derogatory terms and the fact that Morocco’s shores are on the Atlantic.

Adding insult to injury, Sheikh posted his tweet at the very moment that his aide and namesake, Talal Al Sheikh, was meeting in the Moroccan capital of Rabat with the president of the Moroccan Football Federation, Faouzi Lekjaa.

The linking of Saudi Arabia’s position on the World Cup came on the heels of the kingdom’s efforts to force prominent multinational financial institutions to take sides in the Gulf dispute. The Saudi push persuaded JP Morgan and HSBC to refrain from participating last month in a $12 billion Qatari bond sale.

The Saudi-Moroccan spat is the latest incident in which the World Cup has become a battleground in the Gulf crisis.

That may have been an overstatement by the notoriously bombastic law-enforcement official, but it nonetheless reflected thinking about the political importance of sports in Qatar and among its detractors.

The Saudi-Moroccan spat goes beyond the political significance of soccer in the Gulf. It symbolizes the end of a post-colonial era in the Middle East in which Arab states look out for their individual interests rather than perceive themselves as a true bloc. That may be a healthy development, albeit one that promises even greater fracturing in an already deeply divided part of the world.

Dr. James M. Dorsey, a nonresident senior associate at the BESA Center,is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological Universityand co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture.

BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family.